Analysis Topic: Consumer Watch

Saturday, April 12, 2008

At some point the business sector realized the best way to take advantage of consumers was to use default options that make them spend money. A default option works because it creates an automatic decision by the consumer doing nothing. And doing nothing is the path of least resistance for time-poor consumers struggling to balance the many difficult responsibilities associated with work, family, maintaining financial security, and coping with stresses on their health.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

More than 15,000 Britons have fallen victim to a "Boiler Room" Shares scam that allegedly netted the father and daughter perpetrators more than £35 million.

Paul Gunter, 58, and his daughter Zibiah, 25, were charged by Florida Police with with multiple counts of fraud and money laundering, which carry penalties of 5 to 25 years in prison. Both suspects are British Citizens but resident in the USA and in the process of obtaining US citizenship.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Brit's up and down the land are being plagued by calls from 0203 103 5180, whilst most take the form of nuisance silent calls, however many people have been reporting that the caller proports to be calling on the behalf of a major UK Bank, The Halifax (Bank of Scotland) and proceeds to ask for personal banking and circumstance information.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The UK Public sector, renowned for gross incompetence and negligence sinks to a new low today as the government announces that the HMRC (Tax and Customs Department) has lost what tantamount's to ALL of the financial records and personal information of ALL of the UK Child Benefit Claimants. This now puts 25 million people at the potential risk of identity theft.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today published the findings of its latest review of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) selling standards. They show improvements in some areas, but also that many firms are still failing to treat their customers fairly.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Chinese factories start to feel a chill as Wall Mart follows Mattel in removing substandard chinease products from their shelves.

The giant
Lee Der toy company that used to employ 5000 workers remains closed after Matels recall of some 18 million toys, likely to cost the company in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Another 10,000 toy factories employing more than a million workers similarly await judgment day in the form of cascading bad consumer press.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

UK bank and building society mergers do not benefit their customers, according to a new study. An analysis of UK bank and building society mergers has found that although these mergers have generated substantial efficiencies for the banks concerned these benefits have not been passed on to customers.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

We were greeted this week again with something that is becoming rather familiar and worrisome; a recall of yet another Chinese-made product. This time it was toys which contained paint with unacceptable lead levels. Most if not all of us remember the recent pet food scandal in which melamine was found in pet food. This substance was responsible for the deaths of an untold number of pets, our own included.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Lisa Taylor from Moneyfacts.co.uk – the money search engine investigates: “With the children’s summer holidays well underway and the UK weather showing little sign of improvement, many of us will be jetting off overseas in the next few weeks. With so many things to get ready, like shopping for your new bikini, sun tan cream and flip flops, no doubt these will all take preference to shopping for the best deal on your foreign money.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Lisa Taylor, analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk – the money search engine, comments: “With travellers cheques becoming less popular more of us are opting for the convenience of using our plastic when we jet off on our holidays. However many travellers are unaware of the level of costs associated with using debit and credit cards whilst abroad.

“We take it for granted that using our debit cards is free of charge whilst on home soil, so it’s not surprising that some consumers are shocked when they see how the charges stack up after using their card on holiday. With terms such as retail conversion charge, and foreign usage charge, it can be confusing for travellers to know exactly what types of fees they will be liable for, and how much it’s likely to add to the cost of their trip.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

BBC Director-General Mark Thompson today announced a package of tough measures to address the discovery of further serious breaches of editorial standards across some areas of BBC programmes and content.

The further emerging breaches, revealed following a BBC-wide search of around one million hours of output since January 2005, were reported today by Mr Thompson to the BBC Trust, and the Director-General announced the new measures in response to demands for action from the Trust.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Michelle Slade, personal finance analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk – the money search engine, comments: “With PPI currently under the OFT microscope and being seen as an ‘overpriced, inflexible’ product, you may have thought lenders would be reluctant to rock the boat further. However as the moneyfacts.co.uk survey shows, for many providers the price has continued to climb over the last year.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

The OFT is today launching a series of interactive scams guides designed to help people avoid being tricked into losing money. The guides expose the clever tactics used by scammers and are the OFT's latest tool in the fight against the scams that cost UK consumers £3.5 billion every year.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Shocking research from specialist insurance website BestDealInsurance.co.uk reveals how greedy life insurers are making huge profits from loading up customers' life insurance premiums for what are sometimes only minor ailments.

David Thomson, Chief Executive from the company says: “It is scandalous just how many consumers are getting hammered by their life insurer for so-called health risks. For example, if you want insurance and a family member has multiple sclerosis some companies will impose a limitation on to what you are covered for.

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